


sweet dreams, red｡

by alsahm



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fans & Fandom, Interquel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 12:00:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15840861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alsahm/pseuds/alsahm
Summary: @kirifudagood morning to black falcon only ♥





	sweet dreams, red｡

**Author's Note:**

  * For [unsungillumination](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsungillumination/gifts).
  * Inspired by [this account's tweets are protected](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14590842) by [alsahm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alsahm/pseuds/alsahm), [benetnash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/benetnash/pseuds/benetnash). 



> this is for renn who asked for murderless crow's reaction to the end of chapter 3 of [tatap](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14590842/chapters/33719760)! you'll need to have read that through chapter 4 to understand what the hell's going on, but there are spoilers for the entire fic.
> 
> this is **noncanon**! leed was kind enough to let me indulge us on my own :')

His breath catches in the hallway just outside the director's office, the whole of him frozen and dizzy and regretting that latest refresh.

When his heart remembers it needs to function for them to live, batters its cage with a frantic _thump-thump-thump_ , he twists so his back is to the wall and taps at Joker's image, zooming in as best he can with only his left hand, his right unfortunately occupied with the director's afternoon coffee.

God. _God_. This really could not be more ill-timed. Crow—Goro— _he_ , whoever he is now, he never hears Goro and only reads Crow but he's realizing he relishes that—has already been forced to set up Do Not Disturb during working hours, else deal with a heart attack whenever he gets a notification for a new DM. He's been _trying_ to disqualify the sender's charisma, to stamp out the useless flutter at tags from that infamous handle, but now there's a face to put to those charming messages, and _fuck_ it is _such_ a face. Joker is all sharp grey eyes and long dark lashes, slender fingers on pink lips. _Kissable_ , Crow thinks instantly, and then with heat _wow he is in bed in this picture_. 

Which, notably, he put on main. Addressed to Black. And this isn't even registering as the incredibly toolish move it is; in fact it is distracting.

Crow is so fucked.

"Akechi?" Akechi locks his phone like it's something illegal, blinks to attention. The director's secretary has poked his head out of the office and is beckoning him, frowning. "You can come in now, he's waiting on his coffee..."

"Yes, sir," he says, and goes, smiling as if what delayed him was nothing, as if he isn't going to be thinking about it all day, as if fandom validation isn't a gateway drug. 

The first chance he gets, he saves the pic.

* * *

No, this is creepy. He deletes it.

Although… People save pictures of _him_ all the time, and do with them what they want. Once it's on the internet, once it's posted on _main_ , anything is fair game, isn't it? And Joker didn't even _delete_ it, it's still right there, with a ridiculous number of interactions for some shitposter in a sentai anime fandom—but then Joker is the most attractive otaku Crow has ever seen. And in bed, still. 

There's a cat, too, now that Crow gets a fifth look; its ears poke fuzzily into the frame. How many angles did it sit through before Joker nodded to himself, brought down his arms, gave the selfie a pass with a quirk of his soft lips?

Crow saves the picture again. He's appreciating hard work.

On the train he switches to his most private account and scrolls through Joker's media. Most of his grid is dedicated to screencaps of Black or memery, texts he's assigned to a ship or a quick edit into a format—all effortlessly funny, because Joker's alias suits him in both meaning and its commanding power; Goro can't look away. He's hunting, he justifies, for Joker's eyes in different lighting, so he might decide how best to describe their color: Silver is cliché, stone or ashen too dead. Like smoke, maybe, enrapturing enough that you choke before you remember to run, but that’s still too striking a descriptor to finalize without more material.

Admittedly he's been down the grid before. Crow always stakes out potential mutuals for months before plunging, and media is an easy way to pursue confirmation of good taste and conduct, even if the thoroughness wasn't strictly necessary for Joker, who is popular enough that the majority of his tweets ended up on Crow's TL anyway. As far as he saw there was never a picture, though, only the endless stream of Featherman jokes, cats, a cup of coffee. His hands appeared sometimes, and Crow can sense now the beginnings of a fixation, courtesy of his tendency to imprint on any objects of his desire too hard and too fast.

He's so deep that the next time he gets a notif, the app crashes.

Fitting. It's Joker.

Direct Message with JOKER  
  
JOKER  
hey quick  
r3d/r4d or r3d/r5d  
or r4d/r3d/r5d...  
Good evening.  
And what is this for?  
JOKER  
hi  
i'm on the kink meme i can't decide what mediocre porn to read first  
I see.  
What were the prompts?  
JOKER  
monthursbathhouse.dreamwidth.org/ 21856.html?thread=192352  


Crow sometimes wonders if it's normal to have conversations like this with real flesh and blood friends. He supposes it doesn't matter, since both those things elude him and this is definitely more interesting. 

He dreams of taking Joker out for monja, over which they discuss the politics of this stupid sentai anime's kink meme, and then do something marginally related.

* * *

Eventually Twitter's web client cuts him off, too. He made it all the way back to when Black first appeared and Joker had promptly announced his devotion, felt his heart twinge with affection, and then couldn't scroll any farther. By then he was looking more out of amusement at Joker's initial livetweeting than for something in particular, but it was a good, fruitful adventure. There were some more pics. They were not deliberately sexy.

Joker is definitely flirting with him.

Crow is into this but accidentally responds by writing a ship Joker doesn't even like. In the middle of a lecture. And when Joker announces he refuses to support it, not having once left a comment or spoken to Crow about his writing despite all the kudos and the vestiges of indulging that a thorough backsearch reveal, Goro shuts his laptop, rubs together the heels of his hands, and sets their warmth on his closed eyes to relax.

He is so pitifully desperate for the complete attention of someone he met on the internet. God, he has so much shit to get through, what the hell is he doing.

What he's doing is swiping up his phone to scroll through Joker's private's grid now, finger pulling carefully down the left side of the screen. It was so much less dangerous to be a fucking creep about his crush when the account he was stalking was unlocked.

Alright, no. _Discipline_ , Akechi, it's time to read that case study.

He lifts open his laptop with renewed purpose. Unfortunately the browser is still open and he notices a new follower request.

* * *

Ann delivers opportunity to his front door tied in bad spelling and pink ribbon that he will possibly save for later okay this line is stupendously bad but Crow is really fucking excited right now.

* * *

"Hey, can you hear me?"

Okay _what._

"Yes! Hello, Joker."

"Hey! Oh, I said that already. Haha… Wow, this is already so much better than DMs. Look Mona, no hands! Hahaha."

 _Are you kidding_. Stop that!

Well, no, don't.

"Crow? You still there?"

!!

"Ah, yes, I'm here. Sorry, it's been rather a long day, so I may zone out a little..."

"Oh man, I'll try not to be boring, but I'm really about to talk your ear off. Murderless Crow Megidola, are you ready to be regaled?"


End file.
